Hearing to tell of intimidation, harassment after Sept. 11

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, September 19, 2002

Day after day, the Iraqi immigrant says, his White Center neighbor tormented his family, simply for being Muslims.

"She call my wife names, she call the police for no reason, police come and go away -- she harass us many times," said the man, a U.S. citizen whose first name is Majid.

And that started three years before the Sept. 11 attacks on America. In the past year, he said, his neighbor "said to us (that) we are terrorists, we are no-good people. . . . We can't sleep nights because we feel unsafe."

Majid's story and other accounts of intimidation, harassment and federal detention will be told to state and federal officials tomorrow at a Seattle hearing organized by more than 50 cultural, ethnic, religious and social-action groups.

The "Justice for ALL" event grew out of weekly discussions called by the Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington to plan a different kind of observance of the Sept. 11 anniversary, given that other events would be more reflective.

"We acknowledge right up front that the government has the right and obligation to protect the country against indiscriminate attacks. There's nobody questioning that right or obligation," said Pramila Jayapal, director of the civil rights watchdog group.

But "we can't compromise our most basic freedoms in the name of security," she said, arguing that the government's homeland security efforts go too far and are too secretive.

The non-profit, Seattle-based Hate Free group was formed in response to what it said were hate crimes and discrimination occurring in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The group partners with about 20 ethnic or civil rights organizations. Its political supporters include more than a dozen Democratic officeholders.

While some complaints are high-profile -- the federal raid of a Somali grocer in Seattle in March, which the government later admitted was a mistake -- Jayapal says the Hate Free organization has heard a variety of stories on its hot line and from groups representing ethnic communities.

The complaints range from harassing phone calls to race-based road rage to lengthy detention for illegal immigration. The latter case involves the members of a Syrian family who have been held since Feb. 22.

Nearly 20 people from the Seattle area have been chosen by the group to testify at the highly structured hearing, which will be moderated by retiring state Supreme Court Justice Charles Z. Smith.

Panelists receiving the testimony include Ron Nesbitt, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's Seattle office; Dorothy Stefan, counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Seattle district; Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake; and Assistant Attorney General David Horne.

The panelists will be given a list of 10 recommendations from the hearing organizers.

Among them:

View "with a critical eye any new legislation or policy that contributes to the climate of fear and discrimination."

Establish a congressional oversight committee to "monitor the critical balance between security and civil rights."

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Improve the "cultural competence" of law enforcement and state agencies.

Don't target individuals "for investigation, detention or selective enforcement of the laws because of their race, religion, ethnic background or appearance."

The hearings are modeled after those conducted by the federal government in the early 1980s to investigate the facts and circumstances of the incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

"We wanted something more proactive. It's certainly not confrontational, but will give voice to those in the community who felt they were isolated."

Both Yoshitomi and Jayapal say the event is the result of unprecedented cooperation among dozens of groups, some of whose members won't be testifying -- or even attending the hearing -- for fear of retribution.

"I want people to look around and see the tremendous support they're going to get from others in their communities and not in their communities," Jayapal said. "And to say, 'We have rights we believe in, and a Constitution we believe in, and we're standing up for those.' "